1891] 121 



DESCRIPTIOX OF THE LARVA OF KUPERIA FULVAOO. 

 BY GEO. T. POREITT, F.L.S. 



For many years Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamsliire was con- 

 sidered the only British locality where this pretty species could be 

 taken in numbers. There it used to- be, and I suppose still is, a most 

 abundant moth. Odd specimens were very occasionally taken in other 

 and very widely separated localities in England and Scotland, but it 

 was not until 1888, when Mr. J. N. Young, of Eotherham, and his 

 friends, took twenty-six specimens in Wadworth Wood, near Don- 

 caster, that another locality was found where it could be i*elied on to 

 occur in some plenty, as the two seasons which have elapsed since then 

 have suiBciently proved. 



By previous arrangement, I met Mr. Young in Wadworth Wood 

 on the 21st of June last, and found that by the time I arrived he had 

 already made a good haul of Euperia fulvago larvae, along with many 

 other species He had gone the previous evening to " sugar," re- 

 mained in the Wood all night, and commenced to beat for larvae at 

 daybreak. We set to work together at the birches, and I had before 

 long the satisfaction of finding that the "early bird" had not got 

 quite all "the worms," for by the time I discontinued beating, a fair 

 number had found their way into my boxes. We were, however, 

 clearly a week too late, as although a few larvae were small, by far the 

 greater part were quite full-fed, and evidently most had already left 

 the trees. 



The full-grown larva is about an inch and a half in length, and of moderate 

 bulk in proportion ; head very slightly narrower than the 2nd segment, the lobes 

 round and polished ; body cylindrical, and of nearly uniform width throughout ; 

 skin soft, and so translucent that the pulsations of tlie internal vessels can be dis- 

 tinctly seen through it. 



Ground-colour pale dingy green, with the appearance of having been dusted over 

 with a white powder ; head pale yellow, the mandibles black, and on each side, a 

 little above the mandibles, and towards the outside, is a small red spot ; medio-dorsal 

 and subdorsal lines white ; the spiracular stripe is composed of two waved lines, also 

 white ; this stripe encloses the spiracles, which are white, edged all round with 

 purple ; segmental divisions yellow, this colour showing especially when the larva 

 is crawling. 



Ventral area and prolegs uniformly pale dingy green, the anterior legs still 

 paler, and slightly tipped with black. 



The young larva found did not appear to difPor either in shape or colouring 

 from the adult specimens. 



Feeds on birch, and rests coiled round in the middle of a leaf 



